Trying to be a mother and a champion Olympian simultaneously is a tough task, but the Beijing Games has its fair share of moms juggling their duties.

Some of the better-known include British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe, American tennis star Lindsay Davenport, and Japan's seven-time world judo champion Ryoko Tani.

But there are plenty more changing nappies one minute and training the next.

Italian fencer Valentina Vezzali hasn't let having a child get in her way of being the best in the world, making Olympics history here by becoming the first person to win three successive individual titles with victory in the foil.

She did it for her son.

Top (clockwise): Lindsay Davenport, Dara Torres, Ryoko Tani and Xian Dongmei. [Agencies]

"My son asked me for a medal, but he didn't ask for a particular one," she said. "Here it is."

Judoka Xian Dongmei put family matters on hold to achieve her Olympic dream, and now that she is China's first gold-medal mom she can't wait to return home.

"I miss my child so much," said Xian who defended her women's -52kg title.

"After the Olympics I will go back home quickly and make up for the love I have missed."

Xian, who gave birth to daughter Liu Jiahui in January last year, had been criticised in local media as "cold-hearted" for giving up feeding her baby after seven months to focus on her Olympic build up.

They are not the first supermoms to win a medal after going through labor.

Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu, the 10,000m Olympic gold medalist in 1992, won the title again in 2000 two years after giving birth to a daughter.

And Australia's Jana Rawlinson, missing from Beijing due to injury, famously regained her 400m hurdles world title last year just eight months after having a baby.

US swimmer Dara Torres has a 2-year-old daughter Tessa and at 41 is old enough to be the mother of many athletes in Beijing.

Yet despite having a young child she was driven to get back in the water and became the oldest Olympic swimming medalist ever when she anchored the US team to silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay this week.

"There are a lot of middle-aged women and men, who have contacted me or stopped me in the street, and they have told me that I am an inspiration to them," she said.

The legendary Tani, 32, has become a source of inspiration for working mothers in a male-dominated Japanese society since giving birth to her son in late 2005 and returning to her sport after a two-year maternity break.

The double Olympic gold medalist managed a bronze here, and said her family inspired her to compete again when many felt she would retire.

"Without the support of my family, I would not have made a new challenge. I stood on the tatami (mat) with the same feeling as one of the mothers out there," she said.

The 34-year-old Radcliffe, determined to make amends for her shock defeat at the Athens Olympics where she broke down in tears, is back at her best after taking time off last year to have her first child.

She made a remarkable comeback soon after delivering Isla by winning the New York marathon and is hoping to prove again here that babies don't spell the end for elite sportswomen.

Davenport, 32, is another. She is one of a handful of mothers still playing on the WTA Tour, returning last year after giving birth to Jagger with the specific goal of playing the Olympics.

Sadly for her, injury has forced cut short her singles dream, but the doubles remain on her radar.

"I didn't think my body would bounce back as fast as it has after giving birth, and the strain of pregnancy, so I'm excited now about seeing what can happen," she said ahead of the Australian Open in January, six months after giving birth.

AFP